List of free alternative software

[oracle128]

This list exists to inform users of free alternatives to common (or not so common) commercial software.
INDEX

3D Studio Max

Blender 3D
Freyja
Imagine3D/Organica
Wings 3D
Art of Illusion
K-3D
Moonlight|3D

Adobe Acrobat Standard

CutePDF
PDFCreator

Adobe Illustrator
Inkscape

Adobe Photoshop

Paint.NET
The GIMP

Adobe Premiere

Jahshaka

Adobe Reader

Foxit Reader

AOL Instant Messenger (AIM)

Gaim
Miranda IM

Corel Draw

Inkscape
Paint.NET
The GIMP

Cubase

Ardour
Audacity

FL Studio (formerly Fruity Loops)

Ardour
Audacity

Flashget

Free Download Manager

Go!Zilla

Free Download Manager

Google Talk

Gaim
Miranda IM

ICQ

Gaim
Miranda IM

Internet Explorer

Mozilla Firefox
Opera

LightWave 3D

Blender 3D
Freyja
Imagine3D/Organica
Wings 3D
Art of Illusion
K-3D
Moonlight|3D

Lotus Suite

Open Office

Mac OS

Linux

Mathematica

Maxima

MATLAB

SCILAB

Maple

Maxima

McAfee VirusScan

AntiVir PersonalEdition
avast!
AVG
Clam AntiVirus

Microsoft Office

Open Office

MSN Messenger

aMSN
Gaim
Miranda IM

Norton AntiVirus

AntiVir PersonalEdition
avast!
AVG
Clam AntiVirus

Norton Ghost

DriveImage XML

Outlook Express

Calypso Email
Courier Email
Pegasus EMail
Thunderbird

Paint Shop Pro

Paint.NET
The GIMP

Partition Magic

GParted

Pro Tools (Digidesign)

Ardour
Audacity

Quicken QuickBooks

TurboCASH

QuickTime Player

Media Player Classic
QuickTime Alternative
VideoLAN

RealPlayer
Media Player Classic
Real Alternative

Sage

TurboCASH

Vet Anti-Virus

AntiVir PersonalEdition
avast!
AVG
Clam AntiVirus

Windows (operating system)

Linux

Windows Media Player

VideoLAN
Winamp

WinRAR

7-Zip
ICEOWS
ZipGenius
UnzipThemAll
IZArc

WinZip

7-Zip
ICEOWS
ZipGenius
UnzipThemAll
IZArc

Yahoo! Messenger

Gaim
Miranda IM



Anyone is free to submit suggestions to add to the list, and the index in this post will be updated accordingly. There are also several guidelines to follow:

Each post may contain a brief overview/review of the software (full reviews should not be written in this thread, make a new thread in the parent category (http://www.cybertechhelp.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=30)), links to full reviews, or any other short comments/notes if desired, but at the bare minimum the name of the program, a link to it's official website/download page (no links to download sites like CNET downloads, unless the software doesn't have an official site and absolutely cannot be downloaded from any other source), the platform of the software (Win32/Win64/Linux/Mac), plus of course the name of the program to which your suggestion is an alternative. If you can follow the same template I use, that would be great and would keep everything nice and consistent, but again is not required.
The software must be free - that is:

100% free software (freeware) for home and/or corporate use - no spyware, adware, malware, nagware, shareware, trial versions, etc.
Free open source software.

The software must be an alternative to a commercial product (even if it is a free commercial product, such as Adobe Reader) - while some free software are handy little innovative tools, this is not a list for them
The software must be legal both in its existence (ie. no warez/pirated software or giving out keys for commercial apps), and in its functionality (no software that is solely designed to perform/assist in illegal activies, such as keygens, encryption-breakers or DRM-removers) - if in a grey area, the software must have been deemed legal in it's country of origin (use your best judgement if unsure).
Since this thread is in the Software Downloads & Reviews section, the same rules apply (http://www.cybertechhelp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=58596): this is not a place to post questions or problems with the listed or any other software, or for help/suggestions in finding said software. Posts of such will be moved or deleted at the discretion of the forum moderators.
In addition to the above, you of course also have to abide by the CTH Terms of Use and Forum Rules (http://www.cybertechhelp.com/legal/).
Only one piece of software per post (to make index linking easier), however the software may be an alternative to several products, in which case you can simply list all the products it is an alternative to.
Please disable signatures when posting, to help keep the thread tidy.


For convenience, here is the template I use, if anyone wishes to follow it:
----------------------
Name:
URL:
License:
Platform:
Alternative to:
Review:
----------------------
("Review" is optional, and may be removed, or replaced/additioned with "Comments" or "Notes")

[oracle128]

Name: Free Download Manager
URL: http://www.freedownloadmanager.org/ (http://www.freedownloadmanager.org)
License: Freeware
Platform: Win32
Alternative to: Flashget,Go!Zilla
Review: http://www.cybertechhelp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=105009

[oracle128]

Name: Mozilla Firefox
URL: http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/
License: Open source / Mozilla Public License (http://www.mozilla.org/MPL/)
Platform: Win32, Mac OS X, Linux i686
Alternative to: Internet Explorer

[oracle128]

Name: Foxit Reader
URL: http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/rd_intro.php
License: Free for non-commercial use (http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/rd_eula.htm)
Platform: Win32
Alternative to: Adobe Reader

[oracle128]

Name: PDFCreator
URL: http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/
License: Open source / GNU General Public License (http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html)
Platform: Win32
Alternative to: Adobe Acrobat Standard

[oracle128]

Name: Open Office
URL: http://www.openoffice.org/
License: Open source / GNU Lesser General Public License (http://www.openoffice.org/licenses/lgpl_license.html)
Platform: Win32, Solaris, Linux, Mac OS X, Java
Alternative to: Microsoft Office
Review: http://www.realtechnews.com/posts/1705
Notes: Comparison: Open Office vs MS Office 2003 (http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1571626,00.asp)

[oracle128]

Name: TurboCASH
URL: http://www.turbocashuk.com/
License: Open Source / GNU General Public License (http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html)
Platform: Win32
Alternative to: QuickBooks, Sage
Notes: Compare TurboCASH to QuickBooks and Sage (http://www.turbocashuk.com/accounting-software-compare.html)

[oracle128]

Name: 7-Zip
URL: http://www.7-zip.org
License: Open source / GNU Lesser General Public License (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/lesser.html)
Platform: Win32, Win64, Win IA64, Linux x86
Alternative to: WinRAR, WinZip
Notes: Can only compress into some of it's supported formats

[oracle128]

Name: The GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program)
URL: http://www.gimp.org
License: Open source / GNU General Public License (http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html)
Platform: Win32, UNIX/Linux, Mac OS X
Alternative to: Adobe Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, Corel Draw

[oracle128]

Name: Paint.NET
URL: http://www.eecs.wsu.edu/paint.net/
License: Open source / MIT License (http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php)
Platform: Win32 (requires Windows 2000+), Win64
Alternative to: Adobe Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, Corel Draw

[oracle128]

Name: Blender 3D
URL: http://www.blender3d.org
License: Open source / GNU General Public License (http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html)
Platform: Win32, Linux x86, Linux PPC, Mac OS X, Solaris, FreeBSD
Alternative to: 3D Studio Max, LightWave 3D

[oracle128]

Name: Gaim
URL: http://gaim.sourceforge.net/
License: Open source / GNU General Public License (http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html)
Platform: Win32, Linux/Unix, BSD
Alternative to: MSN Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), ICQ, Google Talk
Comments: Handles all of the above messaging protocols, plus more, in the one application. Supports most features provided in the commercial equivalent.

[oracle128]

Name: Miranda IM
URL: http://miranda-icq.sourceforge.net/
License: Open source / GNU General Public License (http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html)
Platform: Win32, Linux
Alternative to: MSN Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), ICQ, Google Talk
Comments: Handles all of the above messaging protocols, plus more, in the one application. Supports most features provided in the commercial equivalent. Less stable and more buggy than Gaim, in my experience.

[oracle128]

Name: Thunderbird
URL: http://www.mozilla.com/thunderbird/
License: Open source / Mozilla Public License (http://www.mozilla.org/MPL/)
Platform: Win32, Mac OS X, Linux x86
Alternative to: Outlook Express

[oracle128]

Name: VideoLAN
URL: http://www.videolan.org/
License: Open source / GNU General Public License (http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html)
Platform: Win32, Mac OS X, Linux, BeOS, WinCE/Pocket PC, BSD (no precompiled binaries), Solaris (no precompiled binaries)
Alternative to: Windows Media Player, QuickTime Player
Comments: Plays everything that WMP/QuickTime do, and much more. Can also stream movies or receive streams. Full list of features (http://www.videolan.org/vlc/features.html).

[oracle128]

Name: Media Player Classic
URL: http://sourceforge.net/projects/guliverkli/
License: Open source / GNU General Public License (http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html)
Platform: Win32
Alternative to: Windows Media Player, QuickTime Player, RealPlayer
Notes: Media Player Classic (MPC) is also known as Real Alternative (http://www.free-codecs.com/download/Real_Alternative.htm) or QuickTime Alternative (http://www.free-codecs.com/download/QuickTime_Alternative.htm) - these utilities are simply MPC bundled with the neccessary codecs and plugins required to play RealMedia or QuickTime MOVies.

[oracle128]

Name: Winamp
URL: http://www.winamp.com/
License: Freeware
Platform: Win32
Alternative to: Windows Media Player
Comments: Great for playing audio. Also plays video, but nowhere near as well as WMP, Media Player Classic, or VideoLAN.

[oracle128]

Name: Linux
URL: http://www.linux.org/
License: Open Source / GNU General Public License (http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html)
Platform: N/A
Alternative to: Windows, Mac OS
Notes: Linux is a complete open source operating system. It can replace commercial operating systems, or be used in conjunction with them (via dual-booting). It runs on just about any hardware available, from x86 and x86-64 systems (the typical Pentium/AMD and Pentium EM64T/AMD 64 machines), to Apple computers, to portable devices. Note that you do not download and install 'Linux', but rather a 'Distribution' based on the Linux core. Needless to say, installing and using a Linux distribution requires more thought, research, and preparation than simply installing a regular application would.
More Info: Wikipedia: Linux (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux)
Wikipedia: Linux distribution (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_distribution)
Comparison of Linux distributions (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Linux_distributions)
List of Linux distributions (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Linux_distributions)
Linux install CD images (in .ISO format) available at http://www.linuxiso.org (http://www.linuxiso.org/).

[oracle128]

Name: DriveImage XML
URL: http://www.runtime.org/dixml.htm
License: Freeware
Platform: Win32 (Windows XP or greater)
Alternative to: Norton Ghost

[oracle128]

Name: AVG
URL: http://free.grisoft.com/
License: Free for home use (http://free.grisoft.com/doc/98/lng/us/tpl/v5)
Platform: Win32, Linux
Alternative to: McAfee VirusScan, Norton AntiVirus, Vet Anti-Virus

[oracle128]

Name: AntiVir PersonalEdition
URL: http://www.free-av.com/
License: Free for home use (http://www.free-av.com/antivirclassic/license.html)
Platform: Win32, Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris
Alternative to: McAfee VirusScan, Norton AntiVirus, Vet Anti-Virus

[oracle128]

Name: Clam AntiVirus
URL: http://www.clamav.net/
License: Open Source / GNU General Public License (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html)
Platform: Win32, Linux, BSD, Solaris, Mac OS X, BeOS
Alternative to: McAfee VirusScan, Norton AntiVirus, Vet Anti-Virus
Notes: Windows port at ClamWin.com (http://www.clamwin.com/). Clam DOES NOT provide resident protection; it needs to be run manually (or otherwise automated/scripted/scheduled) in order to provide protection.

[oracle128]

Name: avast!
URL: http://www.avast.com/
License: "Free for home, non-commercial use only."
Platform: Win32, Linux
Alternative to: McAfee VirusScan, Norton AntiVirus, Vet Anti-Virus

[oracle128]

Name: ICEOWS (Interface de Compression Ergonomique pour windOWS)
URL: http://www.iceows.com/HomePageUS.html
License: Freeware
Platform: Win32
Alternative to: WinRAR, WinZip
Review: http://www.cybertechhelp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=536391&postcount=1

[oracle128]

Name: CutePDF Writer
URL: http://www.cutepdf.com
License: Freeware (Free for personal and commercial use)
Platform: Win32, Win64
Alternative to: Adobe Acrobat Standard

[oracle128]

Name: Jahshaka
URL: http://www.jahshaka.org/
License: Open source / GNU General Public License (http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html)
Platform: Linux, OS X, Irix, Win32
Alternative to: Adobe Premiere

[oracle128]

Name: Audacity
URL: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
License: Open source / GNU General Public License (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/about/license)
Platform: Win32, Mac OS X, Linux, Unix
Alternative to: Cubase, Pro Tools, Fruity Loops/FL Studio
Notes: Not as powerful as most complete audio production suites/sequences, but definitely way more powerful than Sound Recorder.

[oracle128]

Name: Ardour
URL: http://www.ardour.org/
License: Open source / GNU General Public License (http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html)
Platform: Linux, Solaris, Mac OS X
Alternative to: Cubase, Pro Tools, Fruity Loops/FL Studio
Notes: Thanks to member Rockhound (http://www.cybertechhelp.com/forums/member.php?u=46238) for the link.

[oracle128]

Name: GParted
URL: http://gparted.sourceforge.net/
License: Open source / GNU General Public License (http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html)
Platform: Linux, LiveCD, LiveUSB
Alternative to: Partition Magic
Notes: Provides a LiveCD/LiveUSB, to enable the tool to be booted on any x86 system (in other words, it can be used regardless of the installed operating system). Claims to be able to work with most file systems, including FAT and NTFS as used by Windows.
Comments: The site says it, but I'll repeat it here: if your drive contains important data, back it up before attemping to modify the partition and use at your own risk!

[gimpy530]

Name: Opera
URL: http://www.opera.com/
License: Closed Source/Freeware
Platform: Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Mac OS, Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, OS/2, BeOS, QNX, Symbian OS, EPOC, Java ME, Pocket PC, etc.
Alternative to: Internet Explorer/Firefox
Review: Similar to Firefox, very stable, many features, check Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opera_(web_browser)) for a more in-depth explanation

[Renan]

Name: Maxima
URL: http://maxima.sf.net
License: GPL
Platform: Windows/Linux/any UNIX
Alternative to: Mathematica, Maple
Review: A powerful CAS - computer algebra system - for doing mathematical calculations and for calculus (integration/differentiation, equation solving, analysis). Is a descendant of the original Macsyma project at MIT.

[Renan]

Name: Inkscape
URL: http://www.inkscape.org
License: GPL
Platform: Windows/Linux/general UNIX
Alternative to: Corel Draw, Adobe Illustrator
Review: A very good program for vector graphics. Uses the open-source SVG format.

[Renan]

Name: SCILAB
URL: http://www.scilab.org
License: Open-source with custom license (you can't sell the program if you modify it)
Platform: Windows/Linux/Solaris/Mac OS X/HP-UX
Alternative to: MATLAB
Review: A powerful system for working with mathematics. Aims to be a free clone of MATLAB.

[jdc2000]

Name: Calypso or Courier e-mail
URL: http://www.rosecitysoftware.com/overview.html
License: Free
Platform: Win32
Alternative to: Outlook Express

[Renan]

Name: aMSN
URL: http://amsn.sf.net
License: GPL
Platform: Windows, Linux, Mac OS X. Any OS where Tcl/Tk is available
Alternative to: MSN Messenger
Review: One of the most developed MSN Messenger clients. Compatible with most features of the Microsoft client.

[Renan]

Name: Wings 3D
URL: http://www.wings3d.com/
License: GPL
Platform: Windows, Linux, Mac OS X
Alternative to: 3D Studio Max
Review: A powerful program to make 3D graphics. Does not do animations yet, but is easier to use than Blender.

[oracle128]

Name: Freyja
URL: http://icculus.org/freyja/
License: Open source / Unknown
Platform: Win32, Linux
Alternative to: 3D Studio Max, LightWave 3D

[oracle128]

Name: ZipGenius
URL: http://www.zipgenius.it
License: Freeware
Platform: Win32
Alternative to: WinRAR, WinZip

[Amiduffer]

Name: Imagine3D and Organica for Windows
URL: http://www.imagine3d.org/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=319&forum=1
License: abandonware
Platform: runs on any version of Win
Alternative to: Lightwave, Blender
Comments: General purpose 3D rendering and animation program

[oracle128]

Name: Art of Illusion
URL: http://www.artofillusion.org/
License: Open source / GNY General Public License (http://www.artofillusion.org/license)
Platform: Java
Alternative to: 3D Studio Max, Lightwave 3D

[oracle128]

Name: K-3D
URL: http://www.k-3d.org
License: Open source / GNU General Public License (http://www.k-3d.org/wiki/FAQ#Is_K-3D_Free_Software_.3F)
Platform: Win32, Others (source)
Alternative to: 3D Studio Max, Lightwave 3D

[oracle128]

Name: Moonlight|3D
URL: http://www.moonlight3d.eu
License: Open source / GNU Lesser General Public License
Platform: Win32 (source), Others (source)
Alternative to: 3D Studio Max, Lightwave 3D

[oracle128]

Name: UnzipThemAll
URL: http://www.herve-thouzard.com/modules/wfsection/article.php?articleid=6
License: Freeware/Donationware
Platform: Win32
Alternative to: WinRAR, Winzip
Comments: Can only extract archives.

[oracle128]

Name: IZArc
URL: http://www.izarc.org
License: Freeware
Platform: Win32
Alternative to: WinRAR, Winzip

[oracle128]

Name: VirtualDub
URL: http://www.virtualdub.org/
License: Open Source / GNU General Public License (http://www.virtualdub.org/gpl.html)
Platform: Win32
Alternative to: Adobe Premiere

[oracle128]

Name: Wax
URL: http://www.debugmode.com/wax/
License: Freeware
Platform: Win32
Alternative to: Adobe Premiere

[oracle128]

Name: ZS4
URL: http://www.zs4.net/
License: Freeware
Platform: Win32, Mac OS X, Linux
Alternative to: Adobe Premiere